The Slave Trade

1
The Slave Trade
2
The Atlantic Slave Trade
When?

• 1450 - Spanish Portuguese start slaving in
  Africa
• 1865 - still smuggling slaves until the end of
  the civil war (technically illegal in 1808)

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The Atlantic Slave Trade
Why? (3 reasons combined)

• Labor shortage (not enough workers)
• Ethnocentrism (feelings of superiority)
• Greed

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The Atlantic Slave Trade

• Where to?

Where from?
5
60
65
30
35
5
5
Number of people enslaved

• 30 million taken from their homes

• 10 million die during capture phase

• 10 million die during middle passage

• 10 million survive to make it over the ocean

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Phases of the Slave Trade

• Capture

• Most captured 50-100 miles inland

• Tribes often did not have a choice in helping
  capture neighbors divide and conquer

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Phases of the Slave Trade

• West African expectations about slavery

• Slaves were not slaves for life

• A slaves child would not be a slave

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Phases of the Slave Trade

• Capture

Cape Coast Castle, Gold Coast, 1727
Christiansborg Castle, Gold Coast, ca. 1750
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Phases of the Slave Trade

• 2. The Middle Passage

• Journey over the Atlantic Ocean

• 400-500 people in a boat with little air much
  disease

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Phases of the Slave Trade

• 2. The Middle Passage - Tight Pack

• Higher mortality, higher profits

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Phases of the Slave Trade

• 2. The Middle Passage - Loose pack

• Lower mortality, lower profits

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Phases of the Slave Trade

• 3. Seasoning -

• Brutal work camps, 4-5 months in Caribbean

• Meant to train people to be slaves

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Thinking Question

• (Dont write down just think!)
• Given how many people died during the Capture
  phase or on the Middle passage, what do you
  think went on in the minds of the slave catchers
  and slave traders?

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Triangle Trade
North America
Molasses
Rum, weapons
The Carribean
Africa
Slaves
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Growth of Slavery

• Why Africans?

• Americas are desperate for labor
• Harder for Africans to run away than Native
  Americans
• African strengths - agricultural practices,
  resistance to diseases

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Growth of Slavery

• How did African slaves fight back?

• Open revolt (rare)
• Work slowdowns
• Breaking Tools
• Poisoning food

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Thinking Question

• (Dont write down just think!)
• While many slaves resisted, not all of them did.
  What did they have to lose?

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Growth of Slavery

• How much did it grow?

• 1800 - 1 million in slavery
• 1860 - 4 million (1/3 of Southern population)

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Growth of Slavery

• Why?

Cotton Gin

• Invented 1793 - made slavery VERY productive

• 100x faster than by hand

• More efficient more (so need more slaves)